Portable universal ski boat pylon

The present invention relates generally to booms and pylons used for water sports activities. More particularly, it concerns a temporarily mounted pylon that is easily installed and removed without mounting plates.

The term “water sport” as used herein shall refer generally to water activities accomplished through the use of watercraft, including, but not limited to, wake boarding, knee boarding, water skiing, barefoot water skiing, and any other water sport activity utilizing a tow rope and watercraft.

Towable water sports devices are used in various recreational and professional activities. These devices include water skis, kneeboards, wakeboards, water ski boards, tubes and other devices which are towed behind a motor boat or other towing vessel along with a rider. Typically, the rider stands, kneels, or sits on the device, and a towline is held by the rider or attached to the device.

Wakeboarding, for example, is a recreational and professional sport that is rapidly increasing in popularity. In wakeboarding and other water sports, it is often desirable to jump off the water surface to add excitement to the activity, perform tricks or other aerial maneuvers, etc. Often, the wake created by the towing vessel is used as a ramp to facilitate jumping off the surface of the water. However, regardless of the amount of wake present, riders will often want to maximize the ability to jump off the water surface.

Accordingly, motor boats have been provided with elevated anchor points typically called wake towers to accommodate a higher angle of attachment of the rider towline. Typically, a pylon, tower or like structure extends several feet above the deck of the boat (e.g., approximately 8-10 feet). This slightly increases the angle formed by the rider towline with the surface of the water. The resulting upwardly directed force component allows the rider to jump higher off the water surface.

Various constraints limit the advantages obtained through use of such elevated anchor points. Typically, there are practical and other limitations on the height of elevated anchor point structures, for example hauling or fold-away limitations. Large towers can flex significantly, requiring stabilizing guy wires or other structural reinforcements within the boat. Towers can also adversely affect the stability of the towing vessel, due to leveraged forces exerted by the rider towline on the tower, particularly when the rider pulls from one side of the motor boat. For these and other reasons, the jumping advantage provided by an elevated anchor point within a boat is limited.

The unfortunate byproduct of this thinking has been an encumbrance of the already limited storage space in the watercraft. These various accessories also take up valuable space when they are detached and stored in the boat during periods of nonuse. Another disadvantage is that the various pylon, elevated pylon and boom accessories can be cumbersome, laborious and time-consuming to attach and remove.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a towing device for water sporting that is less cumbersome, laborious and time-consuming to use, attach or remove.

It is another object of the invention, in accordance with one aspect thereof, to provide such a towing device that is padded and collapsible, and also stowable in a vertically extending storage space in a watercraft.

It is a further object of the invention, in accordance with one aspect thereof, to provide such a towing device that can function as a pylon, elevated pylon or boom.

The above objects, and others not specifically recited, are realized in a specific illustrative embodiment of a towing device for towing a water sporter as part of a water sporting activity. An elongate towing member is stowed within a storage housing temporarily placed to the bottom of a watercraft. The storage housing extends upwardly from the bottom of the boat in a vertical direction. The towing member remains in an upward orientation to operate as a pylon towing device. In order to stabilize the device within the vehicle, nylon tie downs or similar bracing devices are attached forward and aft, starboard and ports sides.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention without undue experimentation. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a front cutout view of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates another angular view of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates the parts of the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates another angle of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates how the pylon mast 1 is wrapped with padding 3 around the pole 2 held vertically above the base 4 . FIG. 2 illustrates the pylon 1 mounted vertically and held into place by the tie downs 5 , and the rope cleats 6 . FIG. 3 illustrates the pylon 1 mounted to the base 4 in reference to the engine 7 . FIG. 4 illustrates another angle of the pylon 1 , engine 7 and base 4 are arranged. FIG. 5 illustrates how the pylon 1 fits onto the base 4 , using the tube 8 in conjunction with the padding 2 . FIG. 6 illustrates another angle of the pylon mast and the base.

The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims, as those skilled in the art will make modifications to the invention for particular uses.